Breaking News – On Call and the National Minimum Wage

Breaking News – On call and the National Minimum Wage

The Court of Appeal has handed down its long-awaited judgement in MenCap v Tomlinson-Blake.

The Court was asked whether carers who sleep at a client’s home were entitled to the National Minimum Wage while they are asleep. It was argued by those representing the carers that they should be paid National Minimum Wage for all hours that they were on the clients’ premises, regardless of whether they were sleeping or carrying out duties on the clients’ behalf.

The Court concluded that workers who work under this arrangement should only have the hours counted for minimum wage purposes where they are awake and performing a specific task. All other hours will not count towards whether the individual has or has not received the National Minimum Wage.

Whilst this case finally offers some clarity on the position, there is still a question of how an employer ensures that appropriate records are kept of when a worker is in fact awake and performing tasks and when they are asleep. It is therefore essential that robust processes are put in place to record this and to fact check what has been recorded.